Bank Robber Shoots, Flees -- But Not With The Money

May 10, 1985|By Elaine Bennett of The Sentinel Staff

A robber fired several rifle shots above the heads of customers and employees inside an Orlando bank Thursday before fleeing with a pillowcase filled with cash. He didn't get far with the money though.

A packet of red dye that a teller had put into the pillowcase with the money exploded once the gunman was outside. He dropped the bundle and fired at least two more shots into the wall of the Pan American Bank, 760 Maguire Blvd., before he and an accomplice escaped in a stolen car.

Police said they recovered all the stolen money; they did not disclose the amount.

Investigators said the men fled in a stolen AMC Spirit that was found abandoned in the south Colonial Plaza parking lot, a half-mile west of the bank, about 10 minutes after the 11:40 a.m. robbery.

Police believe the robbers parked the stolen vehicle, then jumped into a small car, which witnesses told officers had been parked nearby.

No one was hurt in the robbery.

A bank customer, who would not identify himself, said the gunman, wearing a ski mask and armed with a rifle, ''walked into the bank, yelled that he wanted all the money, then fired a couple shots over our heads.''

Police said the bullets hit the ceiling, causing at least three large tiles to fall.

The customer, who appeared to be in his late 20s, said he was sitting at a desk about a foot away from the gunman. ''No one moved,'' he said. ''I just sat there. I was frightened to death. I didn't move. I didn't move a muscle.'' The robber then walked up to a teller and demanded that she put all the cash into a white pillowcase he handed her. After she returned the cash-filled bag, the robber fled out the front door.

Witnesses told police that when the robber had run about 15 feet from the door, they saw a cloud of red smoke and then saw the man drop the red-stained pillowcase.

After he dropped the money, the robber ''apparently became nervous'' and fired several shots at the front of the bank, one officer said. The bullets hit the wall under the automatic teller window, chipping concrete and paint.

Shirley Followell, of Orlando, said that her daughter, Judy Brown, a bank employee, called her soon after the holdup.

''She was crying,'' Followell said. ''She said that they had been robbed but that everyone was all right.''

Followell's daughter also told her that she had been working in the back of the bank, when she heard several shots in the lobby.

Thursday's robbery is the second to occur at the bank in about three years. In the last holdup, a man held a gun to Brown's head as she put an undisclosed amount of cash into a bag, Followell said. Police arrested a suspect in that case and the cash was recovered.

Police said they have no description of the second man involved in Thursday's holdup.

Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Peck said the vehicle had been stolen late Wednesday from a man outside a convenience store at Goldenrod Road and Hoffner Avenue. No one was hurt in that robbery.

Police believe the two men who stole the car also robbed the bank.

The gunman in both the theft of the car and the bank holdup was described as a white man. He is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds. He was wearing a camoflage jacket during the holdup.

Both men are considered dangerous. Anyone who may have seen the men or the car they fled in from Colonial Plaza is asked to call the 911 emergency number or Crimeline. Callers to Crimeline may remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.